Venom Master
Venom Master is a mid-boss in Blaster Master Zero, appearing in Area 7. It later reappears in Area 9. Physical Appearance Venom Master vaguely resembles a large spider. Its face appears to have two large metallic pedipalps, a darker gray area with red cables resembling chelicerae (fangs), with a large orange and black bulls-eye in the center, possibly as a single eye. Its cephalothorax is amber with various cables connecting to its abdomen, which appears lumpy and has pieces of metal sticking out. It has four legs, with the upper legs being green and organic, its lower legs being red and metallic, and it has three gray metallic toes on each leg. General Information Venom Master appears as the second mid-boss in the Subterranean Depths Area. Defeating it grants the Acceleration Blast Main Weapon, which allows SOPHIA III to use its ultimate weapon that defeats any enemies and destroys any breakable blocks in its range, as well as doing heavy damage to bosses (and instantly defeating Skeleton Boss), at the cost of all of its energy (which must be at full in order to activate). Venom Master reappears in Area 9. Defeating it grants one of the Keys needed to progress to the final area. Attacks Venom Master starts at the top of the arena. It mostly fights indirectly, summoning minions to fight for it. Venom Master can charge up a blast of plasma from its “mouth” and fire it at the player, and it can also back up out of the arena and change positions to be stationed at one of the sides of the arena instead of the top. Sometimes, it will back up a bit and send out eight minions, where they will all begin to charge up an Acceleration Blast, which covers most of the arena if performed and leaves Venom Master invincible. Depending on how much health it has, it will summon four, six, or eight minions. Venom Master’s minions appear in set locations after being summoned, after which they can choose to move a short distance in a random direction or charge up and fire a laser shot at the player. When Venom Master is preparing for an Acceleration Blast, the minions on the field will flee. Strategy The only way to damage Venom Master is to attack its head. Its movements usually aren’t dangerous, however, given the large size of the arena, it is important to keep track of its location, as staying too far away can result in it being able to perform its Acceleration Blast. When charging the Acceleration Blast, the player can defeat four of the minions charging alongside it to cancel the attack. When charging its plasma ball, the player is given enough time to move into a safe position. When Venom Master successfully summons minions, it is preferable to get rid of them as soon as possible, as they are the main ones attacking. They are weak to Penetrator, and a Turret can serve as a good way to distract and damage them while still focusing on Venom Master. Using Reflect, the attacks of the minions can be nullified, but given that they have a tendency to surround the player and fire shots at random times, it is preferable to take them out with a quicker, more direct way of damaging them. Venom Master’s plasma ball attack can be reflected as well, but its Acceleration Blast cannot. Venom Master is weak to Diffusion, causing it to be stunned for a period of time and taking more damage than usual. Diffusion’s power is also usually sufficient for quickly taking out the minions, however, penetrating weapons like Penetrator and Wave are more preferable, with Striker being the best option, as Jason only needs to hit one target in order to hit them all (as well as Venom Master itself, if in range). Using Diffusion’s extra damage and stun alongside most of the Ignition Bombs can make quick work of Venom Master, defeating it in less than 20 seconds. Despite Diffusion beings its weakness, Wave is slightly more effective (even without using Ignition Bombs), as it also stuns Venom Master and can destroy the minions right as they’re summoned; its higher rate of fire allows it to do more damage overall, defeating Venom Master in less than 15 seconds. As Jason would usually have access to Remote Blast at this point, that can be used initially in order to heavily damage Venom Master. Destroyer Mode Venom Master is immune to all Gun types except Reflect. If Jason doesn’t have Reflect, he’ll have to defeat the minions in order to obtain Gun Capsules. When Jason has Reflect, he should hold out the shield and position himself in such a way to be able to reflect a laser shot from the minions into Venom Master’s face. Due to the randomness involved in when the minions will shoot and where they’ll be, doing this can be tedious, more so if the player opts to not use perfect reflects, which in this scenario are usually more dangerous than just holding out the shield and keeping Jason’s back up against a wall. Trivia *Venom Master seems to take on the role of the Poisonous Frog in Area 7 of Blaster Master, being a top-down fight where both enemies can move around and fire powerful projectiles. However, Venom Master doesn’t resemble the boss too strongly, unlike the relation between Skeleton Boss and the Plutonium Boss. *Venom Master's Japanese name, Another Venom, seems to imply a relation between Skeleton Boss and itself, as Skeleton Boss's Japanese name is Skele Venom. Category:Bosses Category:BMZ Bosses Category:Blaster Master Zero Category:Robotic Mutants